Married Girl Denied Education by School Headmistress

Madiha Fatima who was a student of Class 10 in Government High School Chakwal was denied permission to continue her education after she got married recently to one of her relatives. The headmistress of the above mentioned school expelled Madiha after she got married last month.

According to Madiha Fatima when she submitted an application for leave in order to get married, it was denied by the class teacher who was in charge of her section in the school. This is why she had to remain absent from school while she was busy in her marriage. Right after she returned to the school after getting married, she was not allowed to sit in the class.

Madiha and her mother met the headmistress and asked her to review this decision but she plainly refused the request. After this, Madiha and her mother asked the teacher to give them the refusal decision in writing but they refused this as well.

Madiha said that she want to continue her education but it seems that her teachers shattered her dreams of higher education by not allowing her in the classes and school.

Natiq Jaffri, husband of Madiha asked, “Is marriage a crime? I want my wife to acquire higher education but her basic right has been denied.”

Headmistress of the school Shahnaz Begum was contacted by the media sources to investigate this story and her response was quite surprising as she said that “A married girl can adversely affect the atmosphere of the school by sharing details of her marital life with her schoolmates.”

She was asked that according to what law she has made this decision and her reply was quite surprising once again. She said that “The law does not matter here; it is the behaviour which matters.”

Executive District Officer Education (EDO) Mr Ghulam Murtaza was told about this issue and he said that he would check out what actually happen and would look into this matter. He said that “A student cannot be expelled from school for getting married.”

This issue is quite strange as our society is known for women right issues caused to the women by men. In this very issue, women rights and rules are violated by no man but women in the shape of school teachers and headmistress.

Woman rights in Pakistan are often burning issues for western media and NGOs. It would be interesting to see whether some of these organisations and western media raise their voice against this issue or their voices were only for Malala who is highly criticized of being used as a puppet by western media for their own very purposes.